Roger Fletcher’s journey to becoming one of Australia’s most successful agricultural entrepreneurs began in the saddle of a pony.
“I got my start as a kid, sitting on the back of a Shetland pony, minding drought sheep on the stock route outside Glen Innes,” Roger says. It was an unlikely beginning for a business that would eventually become one of Australia’s great agricultural success stories.
By 1967, Roger was buying mobs of sheep at country saleyards and droving them across NSW and southern Queensland before selling them on. Armed with a keen eye for livestock, a willingness to work hard and an instinct for opportunity, he steadily built a business that would grow far beyond those dusty stock routes.
But he wasn’t doing it alone; Roger’s wife Gail was instrumental in those early years, looking after the finances while Roger concentrated on building the business. “She was the financial wizard,” Roger recalls. “In the early days she did it all. The teamwork was fundamental.”
Together they laid the foundations for Fletcher International Exports, a family-owned enterprise that
has grown into one of Australia’s leading lamb and sheep meat producers and exporters.
A major turning point came in 1988, when the family established its processing facility in Dubbo, in central western NSW. A second facility near Albany in WA followed in 1998, cementing the company’s position as a major player in Australian agriculture.
Today, all three Fletcher children are company directors, each playing a vital role in the family business. Melissa, now CEO, was just 22 when she helped establish the company’s Western Australian operation in 1998, having grown up immersed in the business. “I had my first job stamping cartons when I was six or seven,” she recalls. Her brother Farron oversees the family’s farming and livestock operations as general manager, while sister Pamela plays a senior role in the Western Australian operation.
A passion for quality
Of course, there’s more to producing exceptional Australian lamb than a good family story. Over the decades, the Fletchers have invested heavily in the land itself, building extensive farming operations across NSW, Queensland and WA. Their pastoral holdings span more than 250,000 acres, including prime grazing country, cropping land and irrigated farmland.
These properties play an important role in maintaining a reliable supply of quality Australian lamb throughout the year. By combining farming expertise with careful livestock selection and stringent quality standards, the Fletchers have built a reputation for consistency that extends well beyond Australia’s borders.
It’s a distinctly Aussie approach, grounded in an understanding of the land, the livestock and the importance of doing things well.
Home for Christmas
While the traditional Christmas table might once have been dominated by turkey and ham, lamb has become a natural choice for an Australian festive feast. Whether it’s a beautifully roasted leg with all the trimmings, a slow-cooked shoulder made for sharing or tender cutlets sizzling on the barbecue, it’s a wonderfully versatile centrepiece for summer entertaining.
For the Fletcher family, whose story began on the dusty stock routes of regional Australia almost 60 years ago, there’s something fitting about seeing their lamb enjoyed at family tables across the country.
Because when Christmas brings everyone together, good food is about more than what’s on the plate. It’s about family, tradition and sharing something special.
The best things really do come from the land.
